Car Hire Germany

More things to see and do - Take the road to discovery
   
Germany has been home to some of the most important pioneers in the history of automotive engineering. Today, it remains a major centre of innovation and manufacture.
   
As well as producing some of the world’s finest cars, it also features some of the finest places to drive them. This is a country blessed with a beautiful and diverse landscape, and with your car rental you can explore it all via a multitude of specially themed tourist routes.
    
For example:
   

• The Romantic Road (Romantische Straße) – Discover picturesque towns and villages, from the wine country of Franconia to the fairy-tale Neuschwanstein Castle in the Bavarian Alps.
      
• The Castle Road (Burgstraße) – Visit 70 castles and historic palaces, from Mannheim in the west to the Czech Republic in the east.
     
• The Fairy Tale Road (Deutsche Märchen Straße) – Follow in the footsteps of the Brothers Grimm, from Hanau near Frankfurt to the city of Bremen in the north.
      
• The Wine Road (Deutsche Weinstraße) – Explore the fertile vineyards of the Palatinate region on the oldest of the country’s tourist wine routes.
       
• The German Avenue Road (Deutsche Alleenstraße) – Drive the entire length of the country (around 1800 miles) on tree-lined avenues from the Baltic Sea to the shores of Lake Constance in the south.

Of course, if you just want to get from A to B, there’s always the legendary Autobahn network, a monument in itself to this country’s enduring love affair with the motor car.

Spring: Carnival time
   
Known variously as Fasching, Festnacht and Karneval, the German Mardi Gras has its roots in the pagan celebration of spring. In the predominantly Catholic parts of the country, it’s a time of feasting and fun before the fasting and penance of Lent. Although the festival season is long, the real carnival week starts on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. The best places to join in are Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz.
    
   
Summer: Bayreuth Festival

If Germany were a piece of music, it would probably have been written by Richard Wagner. Every year, his work is showcased in one of the most celebrated opera festivals in the world. Indeed, the event is so popular that tickets are extremely hard to come by. If luck is on your side, you might have a chance of some last-minute returns. If so, one thing is guaranteed: a once-in-a-lifetime cultural experience.
     
    
Oktoberfest and Christmas markets

Attracting more than 5 million visitors each year, Oktoberfest in Munich is not only the world’s festival, it also bears witness to just about every German stereotype you could imagine. Except one: the strange idea that Germans don’t know how to have fun! Running from late September to the first weekend in October, it’s a brass-, barbecue- and beer-fuelled celebration of the uniquely German love of life. Prost!
   
    
Germany in winter would be a cold place indeed without the festive warmth and mulled-wine aroma of the traditional Christkindlmarkt. Dating back more than 700 years, Christmas markets are held in town and city squares throughout the country during the four weeks of Advent. Find the perfect gifts to take home from the stalls laden with wooden toys, ginger bread houses, handmade jewellery and so much more. Among the oldest and most famous are those in Dortmund, Erfurt, Nuremberg, Dresden, Stuttgart and Augsburg.

   
At Avis we know being on the open road through picturesque scenery is one of the sweeter things in life, which is why we have created Great Drives guide. The guides will take you on a journey through some of the best driving holidays in Europe.

The Great Drives guide is more than just a map, it's a visual representation of your drive. The handy map plots your route, and highlights the high points of the route. The high points or otherwise known as places of interest, gives you a flavour of what to expect at each destination. They will consist of anything from breathtaking scenery to hikes and even some magnificent man made wonders. This is where you can stop and take in the beauty, or spend the night and enjoy all the benefits.

Have a look at other Avis Great Drives locations